'Thank you,' said the President, making a careful note of the order.
'I repeat,' said the frantic voice of Shuckworth over the loudspeaker. 'They've gone on board and taken the bomb with them!'
'Stay well clear of them, Shuckworth,' ordered the President. 'There's no point in getting your boys blown up as well.'
And now, all over the world, the millions of watchers waited more tensely than ever in front of their television sets. The picture on their screens, in vivid colour, showed the sinister little glass box securely linked up to the underbelly of the gigantic Space Hotel. It looked like some tiny baby animal clinging to its mother. And when the camera zoomed closer, it was clear for all to see that the glass box was completely empty. All eight of the desperadoes had climbed into the Space Hotel and they had taken their bomb with them.
5
Men from Mars
There was no floating inside the Space Hotel. The gravity-making machine saw to that. So
once the docking had been triumphantly achieved, Mr Wonka, Charlie, Grandpa Joe and
Mr and Mrs Bucket were able to walk out of the Great Glass Elevator into the lobby of the
Hotel. As for Grandpa George, Grandma Georgina and Grandma Josephine, none of them
had had their feet on the ground for over twenty years and they certainly weren't going to
change their habits now. So when the floating stopped, they all three plopped right back
into bed again and insisted that the bed, with them in it, be pushed into the Space Hotel.
Charlie gazed around the huge lobby. On the floor there was a thick green carpet. Twenty tremendous chandeliers hung shimmering from the ceiling. The walls were covered with valuable pictures and there were big soft armchairs all over the place. At the far end of the room there were the doors of five lifts. The group stared in silence at all this luxury.